FFVIII was one of the best FF games, it was better then FFVII in my opinion. It had better main character development, better summons, better graphics, better muisc etc
It only gets hate because it wasn't a FFVII sequel and the new fans that were introduced to FF thanks to VII didn't like there was no sequel despite each FF game being differnt, thats why theres so many nit picked excuses about why FFVIII is "bad", when it's not, it's actually bette...
You can't get scared when your playing with friends or if you have an AI partner with you, go play RE5 or RE6...it just dosen't work. So the thing you seem to like about the game contridicts the thing you want to love about it.
I don't see why people are in denial about this, EA ruined ME, they've ruined Dragon ...